HELENA — A glass of wine—it can perfectly complement a meal, help you wind down at the end of the day, play a role in a celebration—but that glass of wine could soon be a bit more expensive.
"I spoke with an importer yesterday and he said it's a 30 percent uptick, due to currency change and tariffs and he's not going to eat it. he's gonna pass it along," says Hawthorne Wine Bar manager, Josh Mills.
Montana businesses discuss the impact of tariffs:
It'll be passed along to restaurants, shops, and eventually the individual wine drinker.
"I might not drink it as often," says occasional wine drinker, Mary Sahlberg.
Keith Jackson, owner of The Wassweiler, says wine accounts for about 10-20 percent of their total sales.
"Without it, we couldn't function as a restaurant in Helena," says Jackson.
Wine is a key part of Jackson's business, and sacrificing quality is something he says he won't do in the face of rising prices.
"So at the end of the day, it's probably going to mean increased prices for the wines that I believe in that I was to put in front of customers," he posits.
Higher prices would impact more than just restaurants like Jackson's.
The Toasts Not Tariffs coalition is made up of nearly 60 associations representing wine-related businesses in the U.S., and they sent a letter to President Donald Trump claiming that a 15% tariff could cost 25,000 American jobs and $2 billion in lost sales.
It's not just importing the finished product. It's hitting wineries when they buy bottles, barrels, labels, and more.
Though it might take a little time for wine consumers to see the impact of a tariff here in the Helena area.
"The distributors have wine from previous years that they may have gotten before tariffs went into place," says Mills.
While it might slow things down for wine sales, veterans in the wine business say they are confident things won't slam to a halt. Adjustments will have to be made by wine buyers to keep consumers happy.
